Our antihero has been a busy bloke since his prison release. His days and nights have been filled with scads of gigs, and, apparently, stories by the campfire. Pete Doherty is reportedly “aghast” upon hearing of a drug called scopolamine, or “Colombian Devil’s Breath,” which has been around for decades but has just recently hit the mainstream word-of-mouth circuit.

At issue is the most notorious form of scopolamine, burundanga, which is a sort of high-powered jungle Rohyphnol and the subject of a rather engrossing VBS nine-part video series, which describes the drug as “[B]asically the worst roofie you can imagine, times one million.” Burundanga has been discussed & clarified on Snopes.com in regard to an undetermined report of contaminated business cards. The reported effects of the drug itself have been confirmed as all-too real:

Burundanga is said to render its ingesters into disoriented zombies (awake and talkative but powerless to resist orders) and is believed to be used by robbers and rapists in Colombia to render potential victims tractable. It is sometimes termed a “zombie powder” and is regarded as a date rape drug. At higher doses, the drug can cause disorientation, memory loss, hallucinations, and convulsion, and its effects can last for days. Burundanga-drugged victims have reportedly been found days after they’ve gone missing, wandering aimlessly with no clear idea of what happened to them. Those under its influence have been known to empty their bank accounts, and even to act as drug mules. Typically, the drug is slipped into the food or drink of intended victims, or is packed into a cigarettes or sticks of gum which are then offered to the targets.

The threat of scopolamine/burundanga has also been verfied by OSAC in its Columbia 2007 Crime & Safety Report, which states that there are “approximately 50,000 scopolamine incidents in Colombia per year.” The danger seems to be localized to tourists, which is now one of many reasons that Colombia isn’t a hot vacation destination these days. Criminal use of the drug has also been reported in Venezuelan and Thailand.

Now, back to our regularly scheduled Doherty. The non-reputable but generally amusing Daily Star, claims that Doherty “has vowed to investigate the sedative so that he can help people avoid it.” If this is true, Pete would only bolster his critics’ beliefs if he actually tried the drug in the name of “research.” A few downright horrifying firsthand accounts of what it’s like to ingest the drug can be found here & there. Scary stuff, mates!

Legal Geek Note: A 1935 Time magazine article reveals the former U.S. practice of inducing “Scopolamine Confession[s],” which were finally ruled to be unconstitutional by the Supreme Court in Townsend v. Sain, 372 U.S. 293 (1963).

* All apologies to poor Vermillion for raising the dreaded topic of the walking undead.